I haven't heard the Art Zoyd or the Wahkevitch yet...at least I don't think I've heard the Art Zoyd. I might have on Grooveshark, but I can't remember at the moment. No vote, due to lack of familiarity with 2/3 of the choices.

The only Igor I've heard are the streaming songs here, but there are a few and most of them are quite long. I slightly prefer the s/t Faust album to the AZ one, which is still great and I consider their 'comeback' album.

You know, I think this is just about the most evenly matched poll I've ever done which has received any votes (done some that had zero ties). I'm glad to see appreciation for all three of these, I think, excellent albums. I do love all three of these albums even though I chose the, I think superb, Docteur Faust.

Some more music for those unfamiliar with the choices (people should feel free to vote even if they've only listened to the streaming tracks, by the way).

Here are some reviews and ratings of the albums. For balance I like to show positive and negative reviews which I think kind of important when doing these partially for greater exposure topics -- caveat emptor, but in the case of the Art Zoyd there is only one review, which is positive, so I chose the lowest rating to offset it, and with Wakhevitch's there are only two reviews and both are positive, so I chose the lowest rating there is for the album.Igor Wakhevitch - Docteur Faust

Docteur Faust is the wonderful sophomore album from electronic avant-garde
composer Igor Wakhevitch. After the electronically manipulated and bizarre sounding spoken-
word introduction that immediately sets this album off on a whim of uneasiness, the wonderful
10-minute long "Materia Prima" begins and the central elements of this album become clear:
chamber orchestra arrangements with profound influence from 20th century composers and
stark avant-gardist sonic electro-experimentation of the weirdest variety, with occasional
dramatic vocals and additional elements from krautrock. All of these factors really intertwine
flawlessly to create what basically sounds like an experimental-electronic-rock-symphony. All
of the traditional progressive electronic elements are here (droning, buzzing, etc.) but the equal
parts of psychedelic krautrock flavor really make this album a unique listening experience, and
avant-gardists should definitely take note of this artist and this album in particular.

Igor Wakhevitch would later go on to work with Salvador Dali, which after all this seems
inevitable.

Initially I thought that the running streak of the first couple of albums had petered out by the
later, more recent era of AZ, but having listened to this one a few times, I have been pleasantly
surprised by the powerful material contained in this (I believe) score for a film...If this is not a
score/soundtrack, well it sure sounds like it should be one. What we are dealing with is a musical
collection so rich in sound and texture and ambience that the individual songs collectively convey a
rich tapestry of images. Most are scorched earth and barren wastelands, dark corners; sinister,
long, dimly lit hallways with voices echoing from nowhere. The story of Faust is centuries old, and
a very potently symbolic tale of man's desire to know all, and the shortcut he is willing to take.
In yearning for "the secrets" and pleasures of life, Faust had made a pact with the Devil (actually
his representative, Mephistopheles) for said treasures, yet sealed his fate by turning over his soul
in exchange, forever damning him. No doubt a strongly Christian, cautionary tale, warning of the
road to excess and its damning consequences. I suppose a modern interpretation would be the
southern "meeting the devil at the crossroads".

The music evokes the imagery so well in this album, that you feel as if you yourself are descending
into the despair of an inescapable fatality.... The music starts immediately into a chilling
descent, in the track "down" where the harmonies clash ever so slightly in such a way, building
downward glissandi, in such a way that you are not quite sure if the pitch is descending, it is
maddening and delirously dizzying- the way the music seems to bend downward, as if the protaganist
(you) were being pulled into a descent of frustration, desperation, and madness. I must say this
begins the nightmare rather well. This may just be the DARKEST album they have accomplished. Of
the longer two songs on here (the rest are shorter segues of textural and subliminal, minimalistic
and potently emotional bridges that blend into each other- each one a cliff-hanger setting you up
impatiently, even cautiously for the next), Gate Of Darkness 1 is palpable in its building
crescendo- erecting the very gates of an entry into the darkest concept imaginable... as if one were
staring into a portal that accesses the very depths of a grand and beautifully terrifying hell. It
is a curious vista, one which begs you enter it. It does not overstay its welcome. As I write
this review, it is the day before Halloween (Samhain), and nothing could be more proper than the
ritualistic invocation of the true concept of the once pagan holiday... utilizing dark music to set
the scene.

Although for the most part I love this album, I find that a few of the songs unnecessarily repeat a
groove or notion. There are however always leading voices over this groove that solo, yet I almost
expect the music to follow a more bold classical feel, wherein the individual voices lead their own
way, pulling in different sections, yet many of the undercurrents build a gently boiling progression
that builds, but at times is almost anti-climactic. To its credit, there are many more exotic
instruments used here... very mysterious feeling abound. The music here is more concerned with
building an overall brooding feel.

I am impressed that the collective known as Art Zoyd have managed to modernize their sound in such a
way that they obviously did their homework, by this I mean they were heavily influenced by
industrial and IDM and electronic/experimental acts. The sounds used here are almost Musique
Concrete meets drone and dark ambient. There is a lot of texture and implied rhythm and beats,
making this more subliminal and slow-moving rather than immediate like most of their other albums.
I suppose it helps to have been exposed to the forementioned styles of music- in order to appreciate
this album more. They utilize a pounding rain in one track, with rhythmic thunder claps. Another
track has a cawing crow. I thought I heard a zither, repeating a haunting arpeggio.

In the song Pact, you feel as if the deal is sealed with the appearance of dark minions crawling on
the floor towards you, branding your soul as you sign in blood. Although a short movement, the
track Irruption is a clanging, pounding, demonic and metallic (in the sense that it sounds like a
punishing heavy metal track, yet more industrial) passage that I wish they would have fleshed out
more. It is intense and very driving. Dies Irae (day of wrath) is another favorite song, once again
evoking the essence of an apocalyptic embodiment. Essaim, which is basically a word for a swarm of
insects, constructs that very notion. It is like a manifestation of a plague. I actually imagined
more of a "lord of the flies" sort of image, like the coalescence of flies, constructing the devil
himself. It is a very rousing track. Accelerando is, just as the title suggests, a song that
builds from a slow pulse of chimes in the fore with bass thump in the back, the rhythm of the chime
multiplies exponentially every couple of measures and then subsides; then the bass takes its turn...
the song ebbs and flows in the fashion.... building building building and releasing (etc.) As
stated, many of the tracks are withdrawn and scared, quietly crawling...

Overall I would say that this album utilizes the ambient and chilling elements that make Art Zoyd so
engrossing... I imagine that experimental Norwegian act Ulver has listened to this band at length...
as they use some of the same tricks of suspense and impact through layering and building. This is
the french equivalent of a horror soundtrack, although not cheesy. Its unfortunate that more people
have not given this one a chance. I find that I enjoy horror movies quite a bit for the score...
the way it manipulates your emotions and lends a real sense to the scenes that flash by, without
which you would probably laugh at implied horrors. This album is oozing infection and erosion.

LedBerry71
The best Krautrock, and a true masterpiece(insert your favorite description), and one of
the greatest albums of any sort of all time. It's up there with Unit Structures, most of
Coltrane's stuff, Mingus, and any other rock, even could stand in the top 100 or so of all
time works. The key is that it is not original, the cut up technique was founded with Virgin
Forest by The Fugs off of their Second Album, and pushed further with Zappa, and has
feelings of Floyd, Beefheart, and the Velvet Underground. They came after all of them
and in my mind is third to only 2. White Light/White Heat & 1. Blonde on Blonde. I know
that Blonde on Blonde seems to be out of place for some people in this argument but it was
the first true concept album and Dylan is the father of all after him in the sense of using
the album as a portrait rather than a simple collection of songs, but thats all any of them
are! Faust, like most anyone or anything else that is good in art or leisure, is rejected by
those who have no respect for themselves or others. I understand that for those who like
Faust there are those who dislike them by simple definition of like and dislike, but those
who like generally or exclusively like psychedelic music should salivate at the experience of
Faust. Those who like this I would recommend Faust IV(no surprise), White Light/White
Heat, Velvet Underground & Nico, Parable of Arable Land, Saucerful of Secrets, and Neu!
Yes, there are endless of other Krautrockers I like, but this is beyond the category that
was so helpfully defined on the opening track to Faust IV.

LedBerry71 |5/5 |2006-9-18

burgersoft777
This record has a great gimmick, its transparent and so is the cover it
also features a skeletal hand. If this was a cover and art
work site this record would score very highly. However this is a music
review site and this record is just awful. This is not up to
the standard of Nue or Can , or even Birth Control. I suppose it is
closer to one of Throbbing Gristle's less essential live albums
than anything else. It is a collection of noises rather than a
progressive music recording. If Faust's output consisted of just this
record they would have been forgotten long ago. It sounds like the work
of fakers rather than the work of artists. It has all of
the charm of a bad live punk rock band but without the beat. Those few
who claim this record is a classic are so out of touch with
reality that I would question their sanity. This is not a great record
by any stretch of the imagination. It may appeal to those who
think banging a few milk bottles or mixing a few noises together amounts
to music. Its a lazy exercise in pretentiousness. Yes this
is an experimental recording but its an experiment that doesnt work.
Seriously if you must try the music of Faust buy the far
better Faust tapes to start with. I suppose if you see the vinyl going
cheap (some hope) you might want to buy it for its excellent
cover art work. However this is not a record in any sense of the word
it is the work of crooks and con men.

I'll assist in the bumping due to the fact that due to this thread I found myself a copy of Wakhevitch's Doctour Fasut. And it's quite good. Not as electronic as I expected. Loved that drum/bass duet in whatever song it was, and it ended on a strong note.

Still, not as good as the other two IMHO, but certainly worthy of investigation by avant fans.

Docteur Faust is a fantastic album, and why I did this poll. I once loved Faust's debut. I do think Art Zoyd's Faust very good, and have been listening to it a lot of late, but it's not nearly as remarkable.

I voted for Docteur Faust myself - I´ve been listening a lot to it lately, and i really love the psychedelic element to it. I actually heard Faust s/t this morning ridiculously loud, to get even with my upstairs neighbor, who woke me very early with Bailamos or whatever it´s called by butter-tenor Enrique Iglesias.

P.S. Thank you for those Mwandishi related recommendations some time ago. I am over the moon in love with Sun Ra´s Lanquidity and the Donald Byrd one! Just brilliant stuff

“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”

I recently listened to Faust's version of Faust (sounds positively loopy) and I was surprised of how good it was. As much as I dig the newer stuff, I don't hear anything that comes close to moistening me knickers the way say IV or So Far do. -Maybe except for the collab they did with Dhälek.

On this occasion though, I was really feeling em. Great album

“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”

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